tales for dreamers: the head with two faces
There’s a head with two faces that sits atop a tall metal pole under the vast sky.
One face speaks only the truth.
The other tells only lies.
But no one’s ever figured out which one’s which.
At first the village folk tried to solve the mystery by posing questions with unambiguous answers.
Does one plus one equal two?
Depends, Face One answered.
Depends? Ha! You are the liar.
Don’t you dare call my better half a liar, Face Two said sternly.
Why ever not? Everyone knows 1 + 1 = 2. There’s no doubt about it. So ‘Depends’ is not an accurate answer. It’s also an incomplete answer. Depends on what? Huh?
Depends on whether you’re speaking of math or of lines drawn on a piece of paper, Face Two replied.
The questioner scratched their head and mulled over the nuances of this seemingly simple statement. Then one and one could make eleven too? they suggested uncertainly.
Exactly! Face One beamed.
Confused, the village folk tried another tack. Does the sun rise in the east?
Depends, Face Two said.
No way! The answer is straightforward. The sun rises in the east.
Depends on what you refer to as east, Face One chuckled.
The questioner slapped his forehead. Everybody knows the east is where the sun rises.
Just because someone decided to point in that direction and label it east doesn’t make it so, Face Two said sombrely.
And so it went on for days, with the village folk coming up with questions that should have had a simple, direct, unambiguous answer, and the two Faces responding in unexpected ways.
Nothing is certain, isn’t it? one of the elderly villagers said with a sigh.
Yes! the two heads replied in unison. This is the truth you needed to understand.
Satisfied, the villagers turned to go back to their homes when a little girl piped up, Then how do we know which face tells the truth, and which one lies?
The villagers looked at her — some raised their eyebrows in confusion, some let their jaws hang in frustration — then looked up at the two faces. They merely smiled mysteriously.
I guess we’ll never know, will we? someone answered.
Strangely, everyone agreed that it was the most satisfying answer they had heard in a long time.
Last week's image info: The 'skeletons from your closet' are dancing on the rooftop of a lovely home on Flemish Drive, Burlington, where they're spilling all your secrets for the world to see. The Halloween decorations at this home are so wonderful it merits a visit every year.